


The Habit of Names

by Allekha



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Ficlets, Fluff, Gen, Pet Names, Pets, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25322341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allekha/pseuds/Allekha
Summary: Young Victor, Yuri, and Phichit all had different and interesting tastes in pet names.
Relationships: Nikolai Plisetsky & Yuri Plisetsky, Phichit Chulanont & Katsuki Yuuri
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	The Habit of Names

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Unusual pet names

Yakov wasn't even surprised that Victor had brought his new puppy to the rink to show her off to everyone. Of course he had. Victor had been talking about badly he wanted a dog for years, and apparently his parents had finally given in. "Look how cute she is!" Victor exclaimed, cradling her in his arms like a baby. She put up with it remarkably well, peering around without squirming in his grip.

She did have very big eyes and very long ears. And she already looked to be half Victor's size. Yakov wondered how large she was going to be when she was fully grown. "What's her name?" he asked, already resigned to indulging Victor for this one day, so long as the puppy behaved. He certainly wasn't going to allow Victor to bring her every day, but the competition season had just ended and a bit of distraction wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Makkachin!"

The dog barked, and Victor giggled, burying his face in the fur on top of her head. Yakov, hand paused halfway to patting her, raised an eyebrow. "Makkachin? What kind of name is that?"

"It's her name!" Victor looked up at him. Despite the dull fluorescent lighting of the hall, his eyes sparkled. "It's her kind of name!"

"Does it mean anything?"

"I made it up. I just liked the sound of it. So do you, don't you, Makkachin?"

She barked again. Yakov sighed and finished reaching out to pat her shoulder. She did have soft curls, and he'd never seen Victor so happy about something that wasn't winning a competition.

~!~

"What are you going to name him?" Nikolai asked. Yuri, carrying his no-longer-stray kitten with more care than Nikolai had ever seen him give anything, frowned.

"The best name. Something really cool. I don't know yet."

"No need to rush," Nikolai told him, putting a hand on Yuri's shoulder. His face was so serious. "Why don't we get him settled in while you think of a good one?"

They set kitty up in Yuri's room, and Yuri later coaxed him out from beneath the bed with the promise of dinner. Over the next few days, he grew braver, and Nikolai and his wife smiled whenever they caught the tiny thing cautiously poking his nose around a corner, exploring his new home.

"I named him," Yuri announced at supper. "I thought of some great names, but none of them were good enough, so I decided that he needs all of them, so he's Puma Tiger Scorpion."

Nikolai pressed his hand to his mouth in time to swallow his laughter before it burst out of him – it was a very Yuri kind of name, he had to admit, but for a small kitten? His wife managed to retain more composure. "It's a distinctive name, but isn't it a bit long to say every time?"

"Potya for short," Yuri said. "But Puma Tiger Scorpion's his full name. I'm going to teach it to him. I read that cats can learn to come for their names, only they don't always do it because they're smarter than dogs and they know they don't have to."

Nikolai dropped his hand and let Yuri see his smile. "That sounds like a good project. I'm glad you're being so responsible when it comes to him," he said, and Yuri beamed.

~!~

"This is Muntin, and Pelagic, and this one is Flotsam, and the one hiding there in the corner is Cocoon. Aw, come on, no need to be shy, Yuuri's nice." He managed to persuade Cocoon into his hand and held her out towards Yuuri. "Do you want to give her a treat?"

"Okay," said Yuuri, and he offered her a seed, then another when she took it. It was adorable to watch, especially with Yuuri's small smile on his face. Phichit hoped they all got used to Yuuri soon, since he was the one who would be taking care of them when Phichit was away at competitions. "They have interesting names," said Yuuri, holding out another seed for Cocoon.

Phichit laughed. "When I first got hamsters, it was right after I'd moved to the US for training. I thought naming them random English words would help me learn it faster, or something, and it kind of stuck. Now I do it for fun – I bet nobody else has a hamster named Flotsam!"

Yuuri's small smile widened, which made Phichit smile more, too. So far, at the rink, Yuuri had mostly seemed serious, maybe awkward, but now that he'd moved in to Yuuri's apartment, he'd found that Yuuri wasn't just that. He only needed some time to show it. Like when Phichit brought a new hamster home and had to give them time to get used to him, rather than overwhelming them with excitement and trying to push playtime on them. (Though unlike hamsters, Yuuri didn't bite, and he was good at making his own space. Phichit could already recognize his video-game-playing-don't-interrupt face.)

Phichit put Cocoon back in her cage and took out Pelagic for his turn at bonding time. "You have a dog, right?" He'd read it in one of Yuuri's interviews.

"Yeah." Yuuri dimmed, just for a moment. "His name's Vicchan."

"Vicchan," Phichit repeated. He didn't mention how close it sounded to 'Vitya', several posters of whom were above Yuuri's desk. "Aww, that's a really cute name. You should show me pictures!"


End file.
